"There must be dales in Paradise
Which you and I will find.."

Thursday 31 December 2015



Whorlton Castle and Church from Swainby



6 miles                           Cool and fine




Heavy rain for the last few days made us seek out a higher level walk where fields wouldn't be too waterlogged.  We hadn't walked to Whorlton for over a year and this walk seemed to fit the bill.  We parked at the roadside in Swainby and before crossing the river we noticed a restored pinfold, similar to the one at Osmotherley.  A pinfold is where stray animals were kept until being reclaimed after payment of a fine. We must have walked past it several times before without noticing what it was.  We then walked up the high street and turned left into a footpath just before the church.



Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills

Restored pinfold near the Blacksmiths Arms


Swainby was a mining village so this weather-vane is very appropriate


The footpath passes along the back of houses and we quickly left Swainby, which Tom Scott Burns informs us means 'Swain's Farm', from the old Norse name Sveinn.  Our footpath soon joined a lane which took us very quickly to Whorlton Castle.  TSB tells us that there have been a number of castles on this site, even before the Domesday Book records it as Wirueltun in 1086. William the Conqueror gave the manor to Robert Count de Mortain, and then it passed into the hands of the de Meynell family.  The castle was surrounded by a deep moat over which was a drawbridge.  In 1323 Edward II was known to have stayed at Whorlton Castle while hunting deer in North Yorkshire and during the Cromwellian period Royalists held the castle and were bombarded by Roundheads from Whorl Hill to the East and Toft Hill to the West.


Footpath through Swainby village

Whorlton Castle from the road


Inside the castle

The rear of the building

We wandered round the castle and admired its location, high on a hill and still showing the remains of a deep moat surrounding it.  Holes in the stonework show where beams had once been fitted, probably supporting wooden buildings attached to the main castle.

We walked a little further along the road and came to the old Saxon church of Holy Cross. There is a tale that an underground passage links the castle to the nearby old church of Holy Cross and we decided to stop off to have a look round.  The church was locked and we peered through the grill in the chancel door.  We could just see the bog oak effigy of the second Lord Nicholas de Meynell who died in 1322, as described by TSB. (See here for description of bog oak) We explored the graveyard and its numerous ancient headstones, which looked quite eerie in the morning light.



Approaching Holy Cross Church

Separate tower

Face on stonework of church

As good a view as we can get of DeMeynell's oak memorial


Headstone from 1826

"Pass a few swiftly fleeting years, And all that now in bodies live, Shall quit like me the vale of tears, Their righteous sentence to receive"

WW2 memorial stone at Holy Cross Church

We returned to the lane and followed it to the junction with Whorlton Lane, where we climbed a stile into fields and headed straight towards Whorl Hill, which dominates the skyline.  The field paths were not as muddy as we had expected, perhaps today's strong cold wind had dried them somewhat.  

A steady climb took us into the trees of Whorl Hill (old Norse 'hvirfill' - 'high hill with a rounded top') and we continued to climb until our track levelled out and we circumnavigated the hill, just inside the tree line.  TSB informs us that in 1810 one of Britain's largest hoards of Roman silver coins (weighing 2 stones) was dug up on Whorl Hill by a local farmer whilst ploughing his field.  We followed the path with a fine view down to Swainby through the trees, until we dropped away from the main path to exit the woods at Bank Lane via the garden of a bungalow.



The trees of Whorl Hill in the distance

Field paths to Whorl Hill

Looking back to Holy Cross Church from the climb to Whorl Hill

Up Whorl Hill

The houses of Potto from Whorl Hill

Circumnavigating the hill through the trees

We turned right into Bank Lane and followed it uphill towards moorland and the trees of Faceby plantation.  A short and steep climb through the trees brought us to a path below Live Moor, where we sheltered from the wind behind a stone wall to enjoy our coffee and scones.


Bank Lane towards Faceby plantation

Climbing through the trees towards Live Moor

We stop along here to enjoy our coffee....

... before climbing to the top of Live Moor

Looking back towards Whorl Hill

On Live Moor we joined the Cleveland Way path, just below Gold Hill, and turned right to follow it straight into a cold head-wind.  We followed the Cleveland Way until we descended down a slippery slope to Huthwaite Green where we were surprised to see an old railway goods vehicle at the side of the path. This reminded us that the mineral railway once ran up this valley into Scugdale, although little trace can be seen of it now. 



Looking across at Scugdale from the Cleveland Way

We remember this cairn as being much bigger years ago

Approaching Huthwaite Green

Old railway truck at path-side


Crossing Scugdale Beck, the Cleveland Way acorn is on the bridge

We crossed the beck and followed our path, still the Cleveland Way, across a couple of fields and then turned right into a distinct forest path.  This led us alongside the beck for a mile and looking over to the east we could at all times see Whorl Hill and our outward path. Eventually our path fell gradually to join Coalmire Lane, the old Swainby to Sheepwash road, which we followed back towards the village.

Our path is in those trees

Following the path towards Coalmire Lane

Ornate weather-vane on farm building in Coalmire Lane
  
We strolled into Swainby and followed the river through the village until we saw the Black Horse pub on our right.  It seemed a shame to pass the pub on New Year's Eve without stopping to toast ourselves and everyone else, "To long drinks and short walks" 
Happy New Year!



Swainby

The Black Horse

Happy New Year!



Friday 18 December 2015


Wass to Cockerdale and Byland Abbey

7 miles              Grey and murky

 

We parked by the Village Hall at Wass where there is ample parking and an honesty box. 

 
Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills


Adjacent to the car park is the tiny Church of St Thomas which, like many of the houses in the village, would appear to have been built from stone harvested from Byland Abbey.  We found the church unlocked and internally it is a neat, plain and tidy building that would seat about 40 worshipers. The organ is at the back and would probably deafen the tiny congregation.

The tiny Church of St Thomas, Wass

Showing the outside bell and weather-vane

Interior of St Thomas Church, Wass


Tom Scott Burns explains in his Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills that Wass is taken from the Middle English word wathes and means 'fords', there being two such crossings in the village.  We walked away from the church along a road that soon lost its tarmac and became little more than a track.  We passed through woods, to the right, Blind Side Gill and to the left, Abbey Bank Noddle, and the track became ever muddier, a quagmire caused by horses and bikes.  This was a steady climb which suddenly got steeper as we followed our path off the track to the ridge of Snever Scar.


The road becomes a track

We leave the track...

... to climb to the ridge of Snever Scar

Tom Scott Burns describes a surprise view from this ridge over the Vale of York, but when we walked here last May our view was spoiled by foliage.  We were disappointed to see that it was little better today, the closely planted tree trunks still obscuring the 'surprise view'.  

Our path led along the ridge and then descended until it reaches a gate with a track making its way left uphill.  There was no sign but we remembered that we were to take a left here in order to see the observatory and we made our way back up to the top of Snever Scar once more, and the stone folly known as The Observatory came into view.




The Mount Snever Observatory
 
"Here hills and waving groves a scene display, And part admit and part exclude the day, See rich industry smiling on the plains, And peace and plenty yell VICTORIA reigns!, Happy the MAN who to these shades retires, Whom nature charms and whom the muse inspires, Who wandering thoughtful in this silent wood, Attends the duties of the wise and good, To observe a mean, be in himself a friend, To follow NATURE and regard his end"

John Wormald in the first year of the reign of Queen Victoria, caused this observatory to be built
The observatory was padlocked but TSB says "the view alone" is worth the walk up here.  Unfortunately once again this was marred by close planting of trees which have grown to obscure the view, even without their foliage.

A bit of a view!

We retraced our steps back to the gate where we turned left into fields.  According to TSB these fields were the scene of the Battle of Byland in 1322, when King Edward II was defeated by Robert de Brus of Scotland.  The King only escaped 'by the very pity of Christ' leaving behind in his flight the royal treasure and the crown jewels.
 
We descend from the observatory to return to this stile which we cross

These fields once rang with the sounds of battle

Cam Farm
Our path led us past Cam farm where we had to keep a look out for way marks before reaching Cockerdale Wood.  As we passed through the wood we went left from the forest track onto a small path that descended steeply through the wood perimeter where we saw Cockerdale Farm standing in the centre of a large meadow.  All these paths were very muddy and slippery.  The water table of the meadow, like all the others we crossed today, appeared to have reached maximum and we sank inches deep into the grass as we walked.


Sheep at Cam Farm

Green path to Great Cockerdale Wood

Looking down into Cockerdale

We leave the forest path....

... to descend through Cockerdale Wood

Way marks aid our descent through the trees

Clive makes a friend with a Jakeson's Throat and Chest Lozenge at Cockerdale Farm

We passed the farm and once again climbed steeply uphill to meet a lane.  Our walk should go left here but TSB suggests detouring right to a little chapel, and this is what we did.  He did not mention however, that the lane is exceedingly steep and we puffed uphill.  The chapel was a charming spot apparently built as a dedication to three pupils from Ampleforth College who were killed in WW2.   We had not seen a soul since leaving Wass but as we entered the chapel three hikers rushed across from the opposite direction, bustling past us and saying loudly that this was to be their lunch spot.  The chapel was locked and as the rival hikers had taken the sheltered side of the chapel we decided to have a leisurely look around and then return down Mode Hill to find a seat out of the wind in order to enjoy our coffee and scones.
 
We arrive at the chapel with hikers on our heels

Detail above door of chapel

The chapel's history



View from our coffee stop on Mode Hill

We retraced our steps, finding the going downhill much easier .  On our right we passed a field containing Exmoor rescue ponies and carried on to join a tarmac road for a hundred yards before turning left to pass the impressive building of Oldstead Grange, built by John Wormald, who also constructed The Observatory.  In a field in front of the hall was a friendly donkey who was to become another convert to Jakeman's Throat and Chest Lozenges.

No sweeties for you!

Exmoor ponies

Mmmm, nice!

Approaching Oldstead Grange

Oldstead Grange

Weather vane at Oldstead

Continuing past the Grange we followed yellow waymarks across fields before reaching a farm called Cam Heads where we had to concentrate as the path becomes vague, the way marks taking us through the farmyard and around farm buildings and haystacks.

An interesting bench, protected from stock, but what will stop them from reaching over to get one's scones!

Cam House and Farm

A nice old David Brown tractor in one of the farm buildings

Farm cat

The way mark takes us through the barn.

We continued following yellow way marks through fields, our track often becoming a quagmire, until we reached Bylands Abbey.



Slipping and sliding across the fields


"Can I have a piggy-back?"

Byland Abbey

The ruins of Byland Abbey

We left the fields to join the road at Byland Abbey and walked through the little village, the ruins of the abbey to our right.  TSB tells us that the church, itself 330 feet long, was fringed by chapels and columns, only traces of which remain.





Feature on house near the abbey

Beautiful weather vane near the abbey

Mosaic feature in roadside wall at Byland Abbey

When the Abbey was dismantled in 1540 after the supression of the monasteries by Henry VIII, it housed twenty five monks beside the Abbot.  An interesting webpage about the monastery, showing a reconstruction of how it would have looked in its heyday is here.

Passing the abbey we turned left from the road towards the grand Abbey House but our path veered right from the driveway, back into sodden fields for our last stretch to reach the village of Wass and our car.  We quickly changed out of our boots and entered the Wombwell Arms to sit by the fire to chat with the landlord and enjoy a well earned pint of bitter, brewed locally at Helmsley.  

Abbey House

Duck and ducklings weather-vane at Abbey House

Wass appears across the fields

Nice weather-vane in Wass

The Wombwell Arms



"Merry Christmas!"